Fabio Wardley Warns Joseph Parker to “Manage My Firepower” — Predicts Early Shootout at the O2

Fabio Wardley says he expects Joseph Parker to be cautious and less willing to engage against him on Saturday night in their headliner in London. He states that if WBO interim heavyweight champion Parker (36-3, 24 KOs) has less activity on offense, he’s going to have to “manage” the firepower that he’s going to be unloading on him.

Gold Rush to Usyk’s Throne

WBA interim champion Wardley (19-0-1, 18 KOs) isn’t going to hold back, fighting timidly on Saturday night at O2 Arena in London. He wants the pot of gold that waits for him against undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk in 2026. Fabio knows that the best way to get that against a boxer-puncher like Parker is to take the fight to him.

Wardley, 30, believes that Parker’s instincts will cause him to get involved in brief shootout moments with him. He’s not going to hold back and let Fabio bombard him with power shots the way Frazer Clarke did in their rematch on October 12, 2024. If he does that, Wardley will take him out quickly, perhaps in the first two rounds.

He Smells Fear in Parker

“I think he will be tactical in spaces. He’ll be wary. He’ll try to avoid shootout moments, but I think there’s an instinct-drawn nature in him that will just want to get involved,” said Fabio Wardley to Boxing Now, about Joseph Parker. “I’m going to go in with my game plan and style and fight the way I want to fight. It’s for him to manage.”

Parker’s last fight against the grossly out-of-shape 310-lb Martin Bakole wasn’t indicative of how he’s expected to fight on Saturday. He knocked out Bakole in the first round, taking advantage of his slow, ponderous movements to flatten him on February 22, 2025, in Riyadh.

Andy Lee’s Defensive Blueprint

Parker will surely revert to the defensive style that he showed in his wins over the aged veterans Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang. That was a game plan put together by Parker’s trainer, Andy Lee, and it worked well against those two slower heavyweights.

“If he’s the fighter with less activity, that overall does a bit less, it’s for him to manage me and my output. I can carry power all the way through. Box well, box comfortably, and knock him out. Any sort of win is enough of a statement, really,” said Wardley.